Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Two Classes in the Twin Cities

I woke up before the sun, showered, shaved and had my coffee. I was at the High Moon studio in Minneapolis well over a half hour before class, so River had plenty of time to frolic in the long grass in the parkway out in front of the businesses.

Amy, my host for the morning class, met us out in front and we went inside the Tai Chi studio to set River up and get ready for an Amazing Nia class. Which it was. The group was fun. They had an interesting relationship to sounding. There are places in most routines where I ask the students to make sounds. This group didn't much take my suggestion when it came to whoops and heys, but any time I did a cha-cha-cha movement, they'd all say "cha-cha-cha'. It cracked me up.

After class, Amy, River, me and Beth (another Nia teacher and my host for the evening class) all went to have breakfast. We found a nice shady outdoor spot and sat and ate and talked about Nia and traveling. I found that I couldn't tell them most of my best stories because they both read my blog and I'd already told them.

After breakfast, River and I went back to Roseville so I could shower at the Motel 6. I was also going to take a nap, but someone was smoking in an adjoining room and it was disgusting, so I couldn't fall asleep. I was hoping to pre-rest in anticipation of how much late night driving I have in store later today.

I could stay in the room until 2 and the evening class wasn't until 7:15, so I needed to fill about 5 hours in the twin cites.

I decided to explore the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. It's officially a National Park, and I didn't even know it existed until I saw it on the map yesterday. When I told Amy that's what I had planned, she also sounded as if she didn't know of it.

Well, as it turns out, it's not really a park as we'd think of a park, but a section of downtown St. Paul, where the river runs through. As I was driving on Kellogg Ave, I saw a neon sign that said "Did you know you were standing in a National Park right now?" So I guess Amy and I weren't the only one's that didn't know that a big section of downtown St Paul was a National Park.

I found a grassy area that was a REAL park. It was Harriet Island Park, and it was right next to the Mississippi River. I let River run around at the end of his 50 foot leash until he was exhausted and lied down in a panting heap.

Then I laid a blanket down and tried to get that nap I couldn't get in the motel room. But there was too much going on for me to fall asleep, so I just enjoyed resting with my eyes closed. And the mosquitoes enjoyed me. I was feasted upon and now I'm itching like crazy. They seem to prefer my lower leg and ankle.

After a while, I was getting hungry so I searched for and found a local burger place. It was just a few minutes drive away, so I went and got it and then brought it back to the park to eat it on the grass.

After my burger, I fed River. Then I got gas. The first station I visited had broken pumps, so I had to find a different one.

And after all this, I still had two hours to kill, so I drove to the Marsh, where I was teaching Orchestra that night and used their wi-fi to use my computer in the parking lot from my car.

There were about 30 people in that big room and it was wonderful. There were four men in class, including me. Lots of smiles during class and people sticking around afterwards to chat.

Setting the focus - The 13 JointsIntention - To Sense the Parts and the Whole

Some of us stayed afterward for a short photo session

Liz, me and Beth

After class I drove another four hours to Sioux Falls, SD. I don't like driving in the dark usually, because I don't like to miss the scenery of Americana going by. But I don't think I missed much on this particular stretch of road. In fact, I wish there were more places to stop and stretch, I would have done it more often.

I got to my room about 2am. I've been up for 20 hours, and taught two classes. I'm a little bit tired.Goodnight